Under the patronage of the President of the Council of Ministers His Excellency Mr. Saad Hariri, IPT Energy Center (IPTEC) and e-EcoSolutions with the strategic support of Berytech, the Order of Engineers & Architects of Beirut, UNDP, GCNL, USJ, and the French Institute in Lebanon organized a press conference to launch the First Urb-Hackathon in Lebanon, under the theme "Data-Urbanism: Reducing City Air Pollution from Transport". The Urb-Hackathon will be held for the First time in Lebanon and the Middle East, after France and Korea, with the support of La Cité Des Sciences Et De L'Industrie in Paris, and it will take place on March 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2018.
The press conference was held on Tuesday 23 January 2018 at the French Institute of Lebanon in Beirut, and it was convened in the presence of Dr. Toni Issa (President of IPTEC), Mr. Gilbert Tegho (CEO of e-EcoSolutions), Mr. Ramy Bou Jaoudeh (Deputy General Manager of Berytech), Mrs. Bruna Elias representing Dr. Dima Jamali (National Representative of GCNL), and Mr. Luciano Rispoli (Deputy Cultural Counselor at the French Institute in Lebanon), in addition to media representatives. The conference started with a short video about previous Urb-Hackathons organized in France and Korea, followed by the speeches of organizers and key partners.
First, Dr. Toni Issa highlighted the significant role of IPTEC in promoting sustainable energy, and the successful partnerships established between governmental and non-governmental organizations, and between the private sector and civil society to implement collaborative projects. In this framework comes the Urb-Hackathon which also complements the “National Campaign for Air Pollution Reduction in Lebanon through Efficient Energy Use in Land Transportation” launched by IPTEC in 2014.
Mr. Gilbert Tegho stated that e-EcoSolutions was able to catch the interest of "La Cité Des Sciences et De L’Industrie" team in Paris to bring this international event to Lebanon after being organized in France and Korea, and to address a problematic that is of high interest to our communities, requiring vital innovative solutions and constructive actions. The participants will be allowed to bring their innovative project-ideas to life, and receive an international certificate that will enrich their portfolios and resumes.
Mr. Ramy Bou Jaoudeh confirmed that, over the past fifteen years, Berytech has been providing a dynamic environment for the creation and development of startups, therefore fostering innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. In this regard, he highlighted the importance of partnering with IPTEC and e-EcoSolutions to make the first Urb-Hackathon in Lebanon a success, and expressed Berytech's pleasure to be part of this endeavor, while looking forward to the amazing ideas which will see the light during the event, and become real projects through the use of Berytech’s Fab Lab facility.
In her intervention, Mrs. Bruna Elias explained that this initiative falls in line with the principles of GCNL around environmental stewardship and responsibility. She hoped that this Hackathon will help develop awareness around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Lebanon and the need to make progress, particularly in relation to Environment-related SDGs, including Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Climate Action, Life Below Water, and Life on Land.
At last, Mr. Luciano Rispoli stressed the French Institute's support to the Urb-Hackathon and its full commitment to support digital initiatives.
The Urb-Hackathon will take place over three consecutive days from March 1st to March 3rd, 2018 at the Berytech Innovation Park in Mar Roukoz (USJ-ESIB Campus), and will be concluded with an award distribution ceremony covered by the media. Interested students and professionals from different fields may participate in the event (engineers, architects, designers, coders, programmers, urban planners, environmentalists etc.), and are invited to register online before February 15th, 2018.
For more info and registration, visit: www.UrbHackathon.org
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